1995_05 Insight May 1995

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In Focus
O.J. trial increases domestic violence reports
+More women coming
forward seeking help for
violent home situations
By Maria Machuca
and Belinda Lee
Staff Writers
"Oh my God," the woman said over
and over to herself as she crouched
in a corner with a broken nose,
huddled over her two children while
they watched furniture fly and break
all around them.
Her 4-year-old son reached for the
telephone and dialed 911.
The receiver was ripped out of his
hand, and he was hit on the head with
it. However, a connection was made
and the police responded to the call.
This was just one of the many times
when Liza Cazares' husband got violent. They were married two weeks
after she graduated from high school.
The violence started a year into the
marriage.
"I noticed that things started looking peculiar in the home," Cazares
said. "My money started missing. He
will start not coming home. Things
were not good. I never questioned
him. I never did anything. It was like
kind of a submissive role that I had,
and then I figured that he probably
was using drugs. I didn't want to find
out. I made the mistake of questioning a couple of times, and then he
started bouncing me all over the
walls."
Cazares' story is one of thousands
in Fresno. Domestic violence is
against the law and punishable, but
thc majority of women in these situations don't seek help.
However, with the publicity of O.J.
Simpson's trial, the number of calls
for help from women has increased.
Although statistics are not available.
officials think the highly publicized
murder trial has enlightened women
in violent relationships.
"Women are really affected by the
O.J. Simpson case, whether or not he
is responsible for the murder," said
Connie Woodman, director of maternal, child and adolescent health, a department of the Fresno County Health
Services.
Woodman said there are many reasons why women don't report violence against them.
"Women don't report because they
experience conflicts in the love-hate
relationships they're in, and the difficulty in following through with prosecution because there's not enough
resources," she said. "Women hope
[the battery] is an isolated case because they care for the person victimizing them."
Woodman also said that because of
previous experiences when victims had
asked for help and nothing happened,
they felt the system didn't work and
the victimization intensified.
According to Michelle Grigg,
deputy district attorney, about 3,000
people were booked and taken to jail
last year for violating section 273.5
of the penal code, which addresses
domestic violence offenses.
The code states that any willful acts
of corporal injury between a married
couple or a couple living together, and
where children are involved, is considered a domestic violence offense and
is punishable by up to four years in
prison, a fine of up to $6,000, or both.
Grigg said domestic violence involves a broad range of injury, including death threats, assault with a deadly
weapon, spousal rape and physical
injury.
"The number of [reported] domestic violence cases keeps increasing
every year, but it is difficult to deter
mine if the increase in domestic violence reports has to do with an increase in awareness among women
about domestic violence, or because
more women are being abused by
their partners," Grigg said.
She said domestic violence is a very
complex issue for authorities; part of
the problem is that some victims are
unwilling to report abusers to police.
night, the victim calls to drop the
charges. Grigg said battered
women often drop cases after
their abusers promise not to hit
them again.
A total of 845 cases were reported
to the Fresno Comity Sheriff's Department in 1994, according to the
California Bureau of Criminal Statis-
Domestic Violence Statistics
• La»t year 3,000 people were booked and taken to {ail
for domestic violence offense*.
• A total of 845 cases were reported to the Fresno
County Sheriff's Department In 1994, according to the
California Bureau of Criminal Statistics.
• The Fresno Police Department recorded nearly 3,800
domestic violence calls last year, of which about 3,250
involved weapons.
•Out of 1,500 cases In Fresno that went to court last
year, 1,100 decided to drop the case.
•Every year the YWCA hotline receives 3,500 to 4,000
calls from women seeking help.
Grigg said that even when cases are
brought to court, victims are unwilling to testify against their abusers, and
that has frustrated the system.
"The police are becoming more conscientious with domestic violence
cases," she said. "The problem is not
in law enforcement. It's not difficult
to begin a case, but it's difficult to finish it because victims don't want to
cooperate."
She said sending an abuser to jail
may not change the situation for the
victim, especially when, after one
In addition, the Fresno Police Department recorded nearly 3,800 domestic violence calls last year, of
which about 3,250 involved weapons.
Patrick Rhames, a Fresno Police
Department captain, said weapons
can mean anything from firearms and
knives to fists and feet.
Legal services are available through
California Legal Services for victims
who want to press charges.
Rachel McDougall-Smith, a legal
services administrator, said that in
order to have a case, victims must
have at least three incidents of physical abuse, and they must be reported
to the police within 90 days of each
incident.
She said there is a very good chance
of success in domestic violence cases.
However, she said that if prosecutions
are not successful, it is because victims drop their cases.
"Out of 1,500 cases in Fresno [that
went to court last year], only 400 pursued a suit," McDougall-Smith said.
"The rest decided to drop the case."
Breaking out of a violent relationship is a difficult task. Violence
does not happen on a daily basis,
and the abuser often makes up for
his actions with apologies and gifts,
she said.
"What I found from my own experience is that he would hit me once
every nine months, then everything
will be perfect," Cazares said. "He
promises that he will never do it again,
that he is going to be better, and stop
doing it. You're so caught into believing him. and you just accept it and
keep going."
Cazares said her main reason for
staying in the marriage was fear. She
left her husband many times over the
years but always went back because
she felt she couldn't make it on hcr
own.
However, after eight years, Cazares
said she realized the truth of her situation. She said just before she actually left, a police officer who had answered many 911 calls to her home
told her that a woman in her neighborhood had been killed.
"He came and knocked on my
door. He said, 'I just needed to tell
you that lady who was always being beat, her husband killed her this
morning. I'm thinking that one day
I'm going to take you out of here
in a plastic bag. You're going to be
the next person who is going to end
up dead.'"
"And that really kind of hit me because I always knew there was the
violence, but I never thought about
death," Cazares said.
One avenue of help for women in
Fresno is the YWCA, which has two
residential programs: a transitional
living center for women and children
for up to one year, and the Marjaree
Mason Center, an emergency shelter.
There are 120 beds available in these
two centers.
Every year the YWCA hotline receives 3.500 to 4.000 calls from
women seeking help. Karen Piervallo,
director of community relations for
the organization, said domestic violence victims make contact with the
YWCA through either self or police
referrals.
Victims can stay 30 days for free at
the emergency shelter. In addition to
food and clothing, victims receive
counseling, legal advocacy, child
counseling and classes on survival
skills and legal options.
The victims' healing process is a
daily struggle for both themselves and
their children.
"After I got out of the marriage, [my
son] acted like he had forgotten,"
Cazares said. "He never talked about
what happened. Then one day he tried
to commit suicide."
Cazares said her son was about nine
at thc time. They sought therapy.
"Hc was sitting in my lap like a baby
and he would just cry, and I would
hold him like a baby," Cazares said.
"Hc had so much pain inside. Getting
hit wilh the phone [was] difficult for
him lo swallow."
Cazares is a now social work graduate student at CSUF. helping other
domestic violence victims empower
themselves.
CourtMy Photo
From left to right: President Welty, Jose Maldonado, Doug Van Dlepen, Kathy Roth, Dlna Thomas,
Tera Booker and Brandon Bakke.
This year is the first in which the
Fresno County Volunteer Bureau
added in a category for university students apart from the main category.
Fiorentino said the Volunteer Bureau is trying to recognize all volunteers and show that anyone can volunteer regardless of sex, ethnicity,
race, age. or anything else.
"A lot of people think that the only
people doing community service are
kids that get in trouble with the courts
and senior citizens, and that's not
true," he said.
Last semester, more than 13,000
hours of volunteer work were done
through the community service class
alone. This semester it's estimated
there's going to be another 15,000 or
more hours.
"We're talking about almost 30,000
hours of community service work
done by university students, and that's
just those in the class." Fiorentino
said. "It's pretty dramatic what students are able to be involved in.
They're [the Volunteer Bureau] trying to recognize that end of it, too."
Five others were also finalists for the
university award: Brandon Bakke,
Tera Booker. Kathy Roth. Dina Thomas, and Doug VanDiepen.
"I think if there is one thing that I'd
like to stress, is the six people were
all excellent candidates, and they're
just a sample of the hundreds of students that are out there doing volunteer work," Fiorentino said.
All finalists were presented with
a framed certificate signed by university President John Welty and
Volunteer Bureau Executive Director Kathy Waters. They also received a Students for Community
Service T-shirt.
"The nice part about theTuhebeon
is that it's not just a Fresno State function; it's a community-based function
as part of the volunteer bureau, and
it's nice to have our students recognized," Coordinator of Undergraduate Placement Services Paul DeRuosi
said. "That's what I was proud of. We
had six wonderful students who were
selected by our committee as final-
Bakke. a junior guard on Fresno
State's men's basketball team, serves
as a role model for Valley youngsters.
He speaks frequently at local schools
and makes numerous visiLs to Valley
Children's Hospital. In addition, he
taped an anti-tobacco message, volunteered with World Impact and gives
time to the Fellowship of Christian
Athletes Summer Camp.
Booker, a starter on Fresno State's
volleyball team, is a volunteer
throughout the community. As a
member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, she's a frequent speaker
at local schools and teaches volleyball skills to underprivileged youth.
She's involved in the Little Heroes
Program, Red Ribbon Week and
Handicap Awareness Week.
Roth is a construction management major who has contributed
much time and energy to University HOPE. She has volunteered
hundreds of hours, and, according
to Program Director Don Romsa, is
a tireless leader who is clearly the
most reliable volunteer at the work
site.
Thomas has been a volunteer with
the Sunshine House, Habitat for Humanity and University HOPE. She
was awarded a scholarship for her
design work in helping restore the
Sunshine House, which is a future
home for terminally ill and abandoned
children.
VanDiepen served as a volunteer
and president of University HOPE.
According to Romsa, VanDiepen has
been instrumental in providing organizational structure for projects, leading student meetings, participating in
planning teams and helping interest
many other students in University
HOPE.
Fiorentino said one of the things he
thought was so neat about the Volunteer of the Year banquet was that "It
wasn't just celebrating one person's
efforts; it was celebrating all volunteers. We had six students there, and
any one of them could have won the
award and been very legitimate recipients."
Maldonado said he wasn't expecting to win. "It's been an accumulation of years of helping out people,
and it's a good feeling. You get up in
the morning, and you're really excited
about doing things. It's just a wonderful feeling."
Fix-it, from page 1
Photo by Kori Rianda/lnsight
Enjoying the sun, junior Tim Miller relaxes in one of the many
broken chairs in the Pit
Responses from the North Gym, the
oldest building on campus, reported
all three clocks at the pool display different times and shower stalls in the
women's locker room have no curtains or doors.
Another response said the changing
rooms, showers and bathrooms adjacent
to the pool were' filthy dirty." A visit from
the health department would most likely
result in closure of the facility."
Responses from McLane Hall reported "at least six broken seats" in
Room 162 (including one with no
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back) and broken glass in the "stage
doors" of Room 121.
In a letter to President Welty, the
council asked that he prioritize the
listed concerns and provide a projected time schedule for repairs.
The list was also sent to Bob Boyd,
director of Plant Operations, the department responsible for repair and
maintenance of campus facilities.
"We're starting to send out work orders, primarily on the health and
safety items," Boyd said.
He said he had no problem with the
list but that it will take more than a
list to get the problems fixed.
"You gotta find the money first,"
Boyd said. For example, he said, the
campus has been without a painting
crew since 1992 due to budget cuts.
Boyd said his department issues
17,000 work orders a year as it is and
that the fix-it list items were "a normal part of work."
Boyd said he was not surprised by the
length of the list given the budget situation and the fact that the university's
size of 2.5 million square feet.
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